Neal, Daniel

, an eminent dissenting divine, and the
historian of the Puritans, was born in London, Dec. 14,
1678, and educated at Merchant-Taylors’ school, of which
he was head scholar in 1697. He appears to have then
declined proceeding to St. John’s, Oxford, and determined to enter as a student in a dissenting academy, under
the direction of the rev. Thomas Rowe. Three years after
he removed, for the farther prosecution of his studies, to
Holland, where he heard the lectures of Graevius and Burman, during two years, and afterwards passed a year at
Leyden. Soon after his return to London, in 1703, he
began to officiate as a preacher, and in 1706 succeeded
Dr. Singleton as minister to a congregation at Loriners’
Hall. Of this congregation, which, for want of room, rmoved afterwards to a more commodious meeting in Jewinstreet, he remained pastor for thirty-six years, and was
esteemed one of the most useful, laborious, and learned
divines of his communion.

Although assiduous and indefatigable in the discharge
of the duties attached to the ministerial office, he found
leisure for writing those works which gained him much
fame among the dissenters during his lifetime, and have rendered his a name of importance in our own days. His first
production, which appeared in 1720, was his “History of
New England; being an impartial account of the civil and
ecclesiastical affairs of the country, with a new map, &c.”
2 vols. 8vo. This met with a very favourable reception in
America, and procured him the degree of M. A. from one
of the American universities, and although perhaps less
interesting in this country, contains many curious particulars of the establishment of that colony, with biographical
memoirs of the principal persons in church and state.

In 1722 he published a pamphlet, entitled “A Letter
to the Rev. Dr. Francis Hare, dean of Worcester, occasioned by his reflections on the Dissenters, in his late visitation Sermon and Postscript,” 8vo. In the same year he
published a tract which excited considerable attention from
the novelty and importance of its subject, “A Narrative
of the method and success of inoculating the Small-pox, in
New-England, by Mr. Benjamin Colman; with a reply to
the objections made against it from principles of conscience, in a letter from a minister at Boston. To which
is now prefixed, an historical introduction.” This procured him an interview with their royal highnesses the
| prince and princess of Wales, afterwards George II. and
queen Caroline.

From this time he published only five occasional sermons, till 1732, when the first volume of his “History of
the Puritans” appeared; and continued to be published,
the second volume in 1733, the third in 1736, and the
fourth in 1738, in 8vo. Of the impartiality of this work
various opinions were then and are still entertained. We
have had repeated occasions to examine it, and we think
it exhibits as much impartiality as could have been expected from a writer whose object was to elevate the character of the puritans and non-conformists, at the expence
of the members of the established church. And when it
was discovered that he represented the church of England
as almost uniformly a persecuting church, it was not surprizing he should meet with answers from those who, in
surveying the history of the puritans, when they became
known by the name of non-conformists, considered that
the ejected were at one time the ejectors; the right of the
usurping powers in Cromwell’s time to throw down the
whole edifice of the church, being the main principle on
which the controversy hinges. Mr. Neal’s representation of
that event, and of the sufferings of his brethren, first called
forth the abilities of Dr. Maddox, bishop of St. Asaph,
who published “A Vindication of the Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship of the Church of England, as established in the reign of queen Elizabeth, from the injurious
reflections of Mr. Neal’s first volume,” &c. 8vo. To this
Mr. Neal replied in “A Review of the Principal Facts objected to in the first volume of the History of the Puritans.”
The subject was then taken up by Dr. Zachary Grey, in
“An Impartial Examination of the second volume of Mr.
Daniel Neal’s History of the Puritans. In which the reflections of that author, upon king JamesI. and king
CharlesI. are proved to be groundless; his misrepresentations of the conduct of the prelates of those times, fully
detected; and his numerous mistakes in history, and unfair
way of quoting his authorities, exposed to public view,”
1736, 8vo. In 1737 and 1739, Dr. Grey published two
more volumes, containing the same kind of examination of
the third and fourth volumes of Neal’s History. Although
Mr. Neal lived seven years after the appearance of Dr.
Grey’s first volume in 1736, we are told that it was his
declining state of health which prevented him from
|
publishing a vindication. This task has been since attempted
by Dr. Joshua Toulmin of Birmingham, in a new edition of
Neal begun in 1793, and completed in 1797, 5 vols. 8vo;
but we may repeat the opinion given in our account of Dr.
Grey, that his and bishop Maddux’s volumes are still absolutely necessary to an impartial consideration of the
subject.

During the interval that elapsed before the appearance
of the remainfng parts of his history, Mr. Neal was concerned in carrying on two courses of lectures, the one at
the meeting in Berry-street, the other in that at Salter’s
Hall, which have been since printed in 2 vols. 8vo each.
But so much application to his public duties and private
studies, at length produced a chronic disorder, which
obliged him, in 1742, to resign his pastoral charge; and
he died, at Bath, April 4, 1743, in the sixty fifth year of
his age, to the great and lasting regret of his family and
friends, by whom he was highly esteemed as a man of great
probity, piety, and usefulness. His son, Nathaniel Neal,
an attorney, and secretary to the Million bank, was the
author of “A free and serious remonstrance to Protestant
Dissenting Ministers, on occasion of the Decay of Religion,”
and of some letters, in Dr. Doddridge’s collection, published by Mr. Stedman. 1

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